That was fast: Tickets for UFC 261 in Jacksonville sell out ‘in minutes’

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tickets for the Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Jacksonville came and went in a hurry on Friday morning.

In mixed martial arts terms, they didn’t even last for a full five-round fight.

UFC president Dana White said in a post on Twitter that tickets for UFC 261 “sold out in minutes,” and was “one of the fastest sell outs in UFC history.” Only resale tickets were left on Ticketmaster at noon Friday. The cheapest available was $633.

The April 24 card at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena features three championship bouts, headlined by Jorge Masvidal-Kamaru Usman II for the welterweight title. Usman beat Masvidal, who took the bout on a week’s notice last July, in UFC 251.

The big storyline here — the return of fans.

When the UFC came to Jacksonville last year in the first live sporting event to return since the beginning of the pandemic, it did so without an audience. The UFC held three nights of fights in town and White told News4Jax that the promotion would definitely be back to Jacksonville when fans could be in the seats.

White said a full capacity crowd of 15,000 fans will be on hand at the arena and the UFC 261 ticket sales broke the arena record for highest grossing gate.

Those who purchased tickets do so by agreeing to a COVID-19 waiver that says: “By purchasing or otherwise accepting a ticket to this Event, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 (coronavirus) exists in any public place where people are present. By attending the Event, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 (coronavirus), and agree not to hold UFC (Zuffa,LLC), ASM Global, Inc., SMG, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, and City of Jacksonville for any illness or injury in connection with your or your guests’ attendance at the Event.”